cat got your tongue，無言以對

還記得之前學過的關於 cat 的一個諺語 a cat may look at a king 所表達的意思嗎？今天又來了一個關於 cat 的習語 cat got your tongue，不能翻譯成「貓抓住了你的舌頭」，它可以意為「啞口無言，無言以對」等，寓意：

used to refer a time when someone has nothing to say

用來指某人無話可說的時候

a situation in which someone is finding it hard to say anything in their defence

一種很難為自己辯護的情況

解析：feel, find, make, think 等動詞後有不定式作賓語且又帶賓補時，要用 it 作形式賓語代替真正的賓語：動詞不定式。

trying to compel or urge someone to speak up when they are being unnecessarily quiet

試圖強迫或催促某人在不該安靜的時候大聲說話

例如：

Speak up boy or cat got your tongue?

夥計，怎麼不大聲說了，還是你啞口無言了？

解析：短語動詞 speak up 是不及物動詞，意為「大聲說話」，後面接 for sb/sth 意為「明確表態；（尤指為…）說好話，辯護」，例如：

She has often spoken up for the rights of working mothers.

她經常為職業母親的權利辯護。

Amanda grew so quiet during the heated argument that I was forced to ask her &34;

在激烈的爭論中，阿曼達變得沉默了，我被迫問她「無言以對了吧？」

解析：so … that 引導的結果狀語從句。

The shy boy was afraid to speak up and his mates kept asking him &34;

這個害羞的男孩不敢開口說話，他的夥伴們一直問他：「無言以對了吧？」

Are you dumb or cat got your tongue?

你是啞巴了還是無言以對了？

With the way you are keeping silent, one would wonder if the cat got your tongue?

以你保持沉默的方式，人們會懷疑是不是你無言以對了？

解析：the way 作先行詞，在定語從句中作狀語，有三種引導方式：the way in which，the way that 和 the way.